The rarest of rare Pokémon cards has been sold for a whopping $16,492,000 (Rs 149.54 crore) at an auction in the United States (US), making it the costliest trading card ever sold.
The card was owned by an American YouTuber, Logan Paul, and has now been sold to AJ Scaramucci, son of former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, according to Guinness World Records, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) has reported.
The representatives of the Guinness World Records oversaw the auction, which was held by Goldin on Monday.
According to the SCMP, Paul placed the prized card, attached to a $75,000 diamond necklace, around Scaramucci's neck. The unique PSA 10-graded Pikachu Illustrator was originally purchased by Paul in 2021 for $5.28 million. That 2021 auction was another record-breaking deal.
There are now more than 1,000 different Pokémon characters, with “new generations” released every year, including Jigglypuff the balloon, and the jackal-headed Lucario.
The cards are swapped and collected among players and collectors. A price explosion in recent years, however, has now generated interest among investors who had no past interest in these cards.
What makes the cards valuable?
Many factors determine the value of a card. Rareness, the character depicted on the card, and the artist mentioned on the card are taken into consideration while determining the value of the card.
Mew, Mewto, Pikachu, and Charizard tend to be more valuable characters than others.
The PSA 10 card:
The designation “PSA 10” makes a card virtually the perfect one. It has four perfectly shaped corners, sharp focus, and full original gloss.
Among the PSA 10 cards, the Pickachu illustrator is very popular with collectors, given the fact that it was designed by Atsuko Nishida, the original creator of Pikachu. The card, however, was never sold and was released as a prize in the 1998 illustration contest.
Paul had bought this card in 2021 from a “mystery” seller in a Dubai hotel room.
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